Finals! This whole year has been crazy not just looking at the Kings in a microscope but also contextually to the rest of the NHL. And Penner just shows it’s always nice to have talent even if it’s underachieving, you just never know when that puck is going to come to the guy and you’re going to be happy it was a talented guy who knew what to do with it, even if he generally isn’t a hard worker, he still has that skill set and it can be worth it in instances like that.

Worst officiated game ever…. Hanzal, Smith, Doan, Rozsival, Ekman-Larsson all should have had penalties. Not just penalties, they should had game misconducts and been suspended for several games. Beyond that, Doughty should have no less than three penalty shots at the beginning of every game to make up for the horrible calls against him. I completely agree with Tippett, the diving has gotten out of hand. Hanzal, Smith, and Rozsival need to be suspended for ALL of next year. We need to preserve the integrity of the game and this is really the only way. Thank you Tippett, your a great coach and I couldn’t agree with you more.

Go back and watch the winning goal again. Just after the puck went in, Mike Smith tryed to slash Richards in the stomach even though Richards wasn’t even in the crease. He made contact, but just grazed Richards.

I’m so proud of this team words can’t even describe it! My mind takes me down a trip down memory lane. Getting fucking screwed last season with Kopitar going down then getting beat by SJ. That fucked up comeback. Could this squad with some key additions make it deep? All the anticipation for the season to start, all the ups and downs and today this squad has made it to the Stanley Cup finals. Who woulda ever thought we would only lose 2 games in the playoffs? If you woulda told me that at the start of the playoffs I would laughed my ass off told you to take it easy on the acid.

Conference champs is cool but I really don’t give a fuck about it. 4 more games to finally close the deal and redeem 1993. GO KINGS!!!

… Finally back home. Crowd was estimated to be around 4000+. Amazing, and the people I was around were great. Everyone was so positive. It was worth the wait to get a chance to see the Campbell Bowl up close and personal, and to show the Kings our appreciation. I think the loudest cheers were for Bob Miller driving by in his Lexus and Dustin Brown in his Mercedes. Then, as if it was the finale, Dustin Penner drove by near the end to HUGE cheers. Unbelievable – Dustin Penner, the Man of the Hour. Great stuff. Great night.

It’s taken 19 long years to get back here. I wish I could hug all of you right now. Through all the arguments, the disagreements, the craziness … we’re the Campbell Conference (yes, I still call it that) Champions and we’re all going to the Stanley Cup Finals. I love this team. I even love Dean Lombardi right now … imagine that! And I love all of the fans, all of YOU, who’ve waited so patiently for a night like this – a night where we cheered the Los Angeles Kings at midnight. It’s been emotional. I’ll never forget this night for as long as I live.

I know there’s still more hockey to play – but, Thank you, Kings, for what you have done thus far. Thank you!

New rule rumored to be debated by GMs over the off season:
15.1(a) – Reassignment of a Penalty –For a penalty assessed under Rule 15.1 – Calling a Penalty, the un-penalized team may elect to place its own player off of the ice and replace the penalized team’s player back onto the ice for the time of the infracting team’s penalty, rendering the un-penalized team “short-handed” (see Rule 16.2-Short-handed). This rule shall be unofficially known as “Paying the Kings’ ransom”.

We rode his ass all season like a beaten, broken down donkey. How about some love for Penner?!

Now I get to play therapist to my GF, who’s been a die-hard fan for 25+ years…It’s ok to believe. It’s ok to have hope. The Hockey Gods punish hubris, not faith. McSorley and his stick are retired. It’s ok!

I’ve only been a (hardcore) Kings fan for 2 years. Guess I got lucky with the timing. It’s a good thing I just moved to New York because my blood alcohol content was way to high for driving last night. Couldn’t help myself after Dustin Penner scored the game winner. Unbelievable.

I got so drunk that I left behind my new favorite bartender and failed to give her the chance to “take me home”… Next time I will make it up to her :)

Formerly “the Quick and the Dead” (Need to come up with a new username soon. Fortunately, this one doesn’t fit anymore)

I didn’t even know what to say or write. Just coming back from out of the country, saw game 4 and during first period of game 5 thought…. how exactly did these guys only lose one game while I was away? I was to find out shortly thereafter.
Massive game, huge heart. Wow.
I still don’t know exactly what to write. Just incredibly proud of the guys. and couldn’t be happier for Penner.

Fucking joke. This goes both ways. There were plenty of non-calls on Phoenix…and HORRIBLE calls against LA (Doan’s PP goal in game 4 was result of a bad call….Phoenix’s first goal last night was the result of a bad call)…give me a fucking break. Coming from the guy who brutally slashed Brown earlier in the series. Who took a slash at Richards at the end of last night’s game.

What a fucking classless piece of shit.

Comparing Torres to Brown?

The officiating blew calls for both teams, and you’d have to be a fucking half-wit to not understand that.

Obviously, unknown to us, the guy was carrying a lot of psyche mental baggage from the beginning of the series as he became paranoid that he was caused great injustices and cheated by the refs.
So, his mental anger/anquish passed off to his teammates who took then cried over some beers with him.

Just a note that for the record, both Doan and Smith were issued game misconducts on the official game statistical summary, for being jerks and cussing out the ref. In the post win video, you can clearly see the ref was being hounded by the dogs. No doubt they told the ref every name in the book. Later on Doan dubbed the officiating “Criminal” and he said that the officials will definitely find every excuse in the book to justify what they did with bad calls.

Well where to start. I’ve been playing hockey for 22 years now and I am by no means an expert, but I do consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about the sport. What I saw Tuesday after game 5 by some of the members of the Phoenix Coyotes and some of their fans really disappointed me. I agree that the officiating during these 2012 playoffs has been shoddy at times with “bad” calls and missed calls, but the pendulum has swung in both teams favor. For a team and some of its fan base to claim that there is a conspiracy or that the calls have been overly tilted one way is just a bold face lie. I agree that there has been embellishment by certain players on each team, but it has been rather evenly distributed amongst all teams. It is a sad state for hockey to find itself in since this type of behavior really degrades the game; however, this is the new culture of all sports. Players have realized that if the continue with the play and do not flop, dive, or flail their arms they will likely not get the call. Players have become so adept to this behavior that it is becoming harder to tell what really is a penalty and what is not. It is also the emergence of this behavior that has resulted in the missed calls as referees now think players are acting. So if you look at this logically the players themselves have contributed to the shoddy officiating. No one to blame but yourselves NHLers.

Speaking of blame, are we seeing the emergence of the “it’s not my fault” generation in the NHL now. I work with many young twenty-somethings and I consistently hear “it’s not my fault” from them when they error or fail. This lack of accountability and integrity only leads to three things: 1) the loss of all credibility; 2) a lack of of growth and maturity; 3) a cheapening of others triumphs and feats. I was truly disappointed to see this state of mind displayed by some of the Phoenix Coyotes, an organization I had a large amount of respect for due to their accomplishments this year and their gritty style of hockey. I’d be lying if I told you that level of respect didn’t significantly erode after game 5’s antics. Now I know that it was not the whole team or all of its fan base that behaved like this, but everyone must realize that anyone that wears that team’s jersey represents the whole organization and one bad apple can ruin the pie. To those members of the Coyotes that held their head high, bit their tongues, and gracefully congratulated the Kings I thank you for honoring sportsmanship and the tradition of the handshake. Arguably the greatest display of sportsmanship and respect in the game of hockey. To those that tainted the tradition with your curt and disdainful behavior I remind you of what your mother told you as a child “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I understand that you were angry, hurt, and disappointed, but that was not the time or place for such behavior. The only thing you accomplished is making yourselves look like an immature child, not the professional athlete you have come to be. As if to add injury to insult you inspired some of your fans to follow suit and show classless behavior by throwing trash onto the ice. Once again a few bad apples give the world the impression that all your fans are classless.

To those true fans who honor and respect the game of hockey I am sorry that you will be judged by the actions of the minority. True hockey fans know you are better than that.

As far as the Brown-Rosival hit is concerned I’ll keep my opinion to myself. No matter what anyone says or what evidence is paraded out people are going to see that play how they want to…you’ve already made up your mind. The only facts are that no penalty was called and no suspension or hearing is scheduled. Right or wrong that is how the play stands and obviously we all see how the league views it as well. I am glad to hear that Rosival only has a bruised thigh/knee. I never like to see a player injured.

I hope that this was all just an unfortunate incident and isolated spectacle…I’d hate to see this become the norm.